Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute Is Expanding

Press release from TGH:

Nov. 17, 2022

Tampa General Hospital (TGH) is expanding services for the rapidly growing communities of south Hillsborough County by adding another TGH Cancer Institute Infusion Center to its patient offerings, with state-of-the-art radiation oncology services to follow. Located in the TGH Brandon Healthplex outpatient medical center at 10740 Palm River Road in Tampa, the newest TGH Cancer Institute Infusion Center will help make infusion treatment and cancer care more accessible and closer to home for patients in the Brandon area and surrounding communities.

At this state-of-the-art infusion center, a group of cancer care specialists and physician-scientists, with the assistance of specially trained oncology nurses, will deliver compassionate cancer care in a very relaxed environment for all oncology infusion needs that include:

• Breast, thoracic oncology, head and neck cancers, sarcomas, colorectal and gynecologic oncology
• Advanced care, including liver and hepatobiliary oncology, genitourinary (reproductive system and genitourinary tract) and hematologic malignancies
• Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer
• Neurology, neurosurgery and neuro-oncology

“Providing the most compassionate and comprehensive cancer care closer to home is a priority for Tampa General Cancer Institute,” said Dr. Eduardo Sotomayor, director of the TGH Cancer Institute. “Adding an infusion center in an area close to the intersection of two major highways will improve patients’ accessibility to the latest cancer treatments, including immunotherapies and targeted therapy, as well as innovative clinical trials. The radiation oncology center, which will soon be adjacent to our infusion center, will also allow us to provide multidisciplinary care (a team of surgical oncologists, medical oncologists/hematologists and radiation oncologists working together) closer to home. This also means that patients have one less piece to worry about when dealing with a diagnosis that is already difficult enough on its own.”

The infusion center will be launched in two phases. Phase 1 will host 19 fully functional infusion privacy areas. Phase 2 (expected in December 2022) will offer an additional 26 fully functional private chemotherapy areas for the treatment of cancer with semi-private and private rooms for patient convenience. The infusion center will be open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The infusion center was developed under the direction of Leo Begazo, assistant director of the TGH Cancer Institute, to provide more access to infusion care services for the south Hillsborough community.

“We want patients to feel at home, and we have worked to create a space that supports the healing process for patients receiving infusion treatments since they can be with us for several hours,” Sotomayor said.

Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the TGH Cancer Institute Infusion Center are designed to create a comfortable environment that promotes healing and wellness for patients. In addition to individual infusion privacy areas, the center has pods of four infusion stations that can help encourage connection and camaraderie, which can also be therapeutic. A separate area with beverages and light snacks is intended to make patients’ family members feel welcome as well. Free parking is also provided to facilitate patients’ experience.

As part of the TGH Cancer Institute’s expanded services in south Hillsborough, the Radiation Oncology Center at the TGH Cancer Institute will launch in the summer of 2023. It will offer evidence-based, multidisciplinary radiation therapies such as HDR Brachytherapy, TomoTherapy® and the TrueBeam™ system. Future treatment options will include the CyberKnife System® — a noninvasive treatment for cancerous and non-cancerous tumors and other conditions where radiation therapy is indicated. This system can be used to treat conditions throughout the body and can be an alternative to surgery or for patients who have inoperable or surgically complex tumors.

“Adopting the latest technology allows us to treat the most difficult cancer cases,” said Dr. Richard Tuli, professor and chair of Radiation Oncology at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and deputy director of the TGH Cancer Institute. “Tampa General will continue to strive to implement top-of-the-line technology and ensure that patients have access to the most quality treatment options.”

Both expansions are the product of a greater effort to develop a world-class cancer center at Tampa General. “The addition of a new infusion center and a radiation oncology center elevates our already sophisticated standard of care at the TGH Cancer Institute,” said Dr. Abraham Schwarzberg, senior vice president and chief of the TGH Cancer Institute. “It furthers our commitment to drive innovation to provide world-class care for cancer patients and their families.”

Building on the achievements of the Tampa General Hospital oncology program — rated among the top 10 percent for cancer care in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 rankings —the new TGH Cancer Institute provides comprehensive care via groundbreaking therapies and advanced diagnostic imaging tools. Through the TGH Cancer Institute, the academic medical center’s cancer physicians will offer a highly coordinated range of multidisciplinary specialties such as hematologic malignancies, stem cell and cellular therapies, neuro-oncology, thoracic, breast, colorectal, urologic, and gynecologic oncology.

The Brandon Healthplex and the TGH Cancer Institute are at 10740 Palm River Road, Tampa, near the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway and Interstate 75. For more information, visit the TGH Cancer Institute.

This press release was produced by TGH. The views expressed here are the author's own.